Leonard Collins: Scientology Put the Wind Back in His Sails

KINGSGROVE, NSW/AUSTRALIA • JAN 6, 2011

Sailmaker and Scientologist Leonard Collins is an energetic, fun-loving Australian. He would probably admit, at age 32, to having grown up, but will never agree to growing old. His video profile is one of 200 “Meet a Scientologist” videos available on the Scientology website at www.scientology.org.

When Leonard Collins found Scientology, encounters with the drug Ecstasy (MDMA) had flattened him, leaving him lethargic, burned out and depressed. What had started as “fun” ended up as a nightmare.

“I’d done so many street drugs I couldn’t see straight,” says Collins. “I couldn’t even hold down a job.”

In 2002, Collins met a man who had it together—he was smart, hard-working, sensible, and he seemed to have answers to problems people agonized over.

“One day I asked him, ‘How come you’re so smart?’” says Collins. “A few days later he came over and tossed a Dianetics book on my lap. I read the book and it explained what I’d been going through.”

The turning point for Collins came from another L. Ron Hubbard book—Self Analysis.

“I used the procedures in the book,” he says, “and my memory, which had been scrambled by the drugs, suddenly came back to me. I felt great.”

Collins stopped squandering his money on drugs. He got back to work, making shade sails—stylish awnings and canopies made of sail fabric. In 2006 he established his own company, which designs, engineers and installs shade sails at homes and businesses. The company has expanded 400 percent over the past two years.

Collins and his wife Serena, 26, a second-generation Scientologist, have two children—William, five, and 18-month-old Elizabeth.

“William is a lot like me,” says Collins. “He’s energetic and strong, and when he makes up his mind to do something, nothing stops him.”

Collins’ relationship with his parents is the best it has ever been.

“When I was growing up, I couldn’t understand them or talk to them at all,” he says. “They were pretty worried about me—with good reason. I think they are surprised at how well I turned out—they thought it would take a miracle. And in a way, they were right—the miracle was Scientology.”

The popular “Meet a Scientologist” profiles on the Church of Scientology International Video Channel at Scientology.org now total 200 broadcast-quality documentary videos featuring Scientologists from diverse locations and walks of life. The personal stories are told by Scientologists who are educators, teenagers, skydivers, a golf instructor, a hip-hop dancer, IT manager, stunt pilot, mothers, fathers, dentists, photographers, actors, musicians, fashion designers, engineers, students, business owners and more.

A digital pioneer and leader in the online religious community, in April 2008 the Church of Scientology became the first major religion to launch its own official YouTube Video Channel, which has now been viewed by millions of visitors.